


Where Do We Go From Here?

by parttimefemmefatale (writingramblr)



Series: The Adventures of Twelve and a Rose from another Earth [3]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU from the 50th, Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe, Angst, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary, F/M, Memories, Parallel Universes, alt!rose tyler, not the same rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-07 22:43:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1916724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingramblr/pseuds/parttimefemmefatale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Beast Below au episode, Rose is becoming more and more at home on the TARDIS, and one day, she stumbles upon a magnificent room. </p><p>Except it's so much more than that. </p><p>It's the Doctor's hearts and soul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lunarsilverwolfstar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunarsilverwolfstar/gifts).



> This is going on the canonAU that the Doctor sTILL DESTROYED GALLIFREY ok? just because it makes sense.

He had asked her to travel with him, just the once. He didn't know if he could bear to have to ask twice. Luckily this was not the same Rose. She wasn't quite as stubborn, and had nothing to hold her back, not really.

They had had a couple lovely adventures.

The last trip, to Starship UK had been hard.

The Doctor had been forced to face a few demons, and memories of past travels had haunted him ever since. Rose didn't know.

How could she?

Staring out that window at the stars, with her beside him, and all he could think of was the fact she'd stayed.

She'd not been upset or angry, hadn't yelled or cried. She'd instead seemed to see him anew, and for that he didn't know what deity to thank.

When he'd pulled the TARDIS to a stop, a standstill, he'd danced around the console, but Rose had been nowhere in sight. Perhaps she'd gone off for a bit of rest.

How could he blame her?

A faint singing could be heard, but it wasn't Rose's voice. It was the TARDIS. She was singing an old Gallifreyan lullaby.

The Doctor smiled faintly,

"Singing the human to sleep are you girl?"

The lights flashed in the console room in a manner he could only describe as amusement.

He frowned,

"Well what then?"

The blinking seemed to say,

"Why don't you come along and see?"

The Doctor huffed, only mildly annoyed. Not like he'd been preparing to do anything, and he decided to humor the ship, following the glowing path illuminated down the corridor.

***

Rose wasn't sure what had happened.

She'd left the bathroom, magnificently decorated with gold flecked marble, and thought she was crossing the hall back to her room.

However, to her surprise she found herself walking through a meadow of sorts.

A strangely colored meadow.

The grass was red, the sky orange, and the trees had silver leaves.

A huge glass dome could be seen far away, and the air held a scent like fresh mint.

"Where on earth-?"

The soothing tones of the ship filled her ears, as she'd begun to notice more and more. The ship enjoyed sending her off to sleep with a song, but now it sounded different.

Sad, and forlorn almost.

Every step through the glowing red meadow led her closer to the silver tree cluster, and the sun, no, suns, gleamed off of the distant glass globe.

"I'm surprised she showed this to you."

A familiar Scottish lilt broke through Rose's wide eyed stare and whirling thoughts, and she turned to see the Doctor striding towards her, something like a painful grimace twisted across his normally calm face.

Rose tried to smile reassuringly,

"And just what is ' _this?'_ Trust me, I was just on the way back to my room, I didn't mean to wander off."

The Doctors face changed, and for an instant Rose saw a glimpse of his former giddiness.

"That's certainly alright. You didn't come in here by choice. She led you here."

Rose frowned, feeling her head beginning to ache. From the way the Doctor spoke of his ship, she was starting to wonder just how sentient and conscious "she" was. Enough to guide Rose to a strange room, and out of all the places inside, where the Doctor was as well?

With a wave of her hand, Rose gained the Doctors full attention back.

"So?"

Big hazel orbs flecked with green in the foreign lighting stared expectantly at the Doctor, and he coughed before regaining his voice.

"This is, was, my home planet. Gallifrey. The shining world of the seven systems."

Rose heard the tremble in his voice,

"Was?"

The Doctor nodded,

"It was destroyed in a war. The Time War. I thought I could bring it back, save them, but it was lost again. My world is gone, and I'm left. I won the war, I guess you could say."

Rose's lower lip trembled and she fought back tears. How awful. The Doctor had always been tight lipped about his past, and how he'd gotten where he was, and besides the fact he flaunted his Time Lordy superior Ness when it suited him, but this? She never could have imagined such a thing. A whole world gone, in a flash of an eye, wiped out by battle, leaving him more than an orphan. The last of his kind. An endangered species.

"Oh Doctor, I'm so sorry."

The Doctor shrugged, and looked away, watching the sky with wistful eyes,

"Nothing to be sorry for. Nothing to be done about it."

She'd known he was by himself, traveling around all of time and space, but never this _alone_. It had been why she'd said yes. She hated seeing people suffering or in pain, no matter how well they hid things, or pretended to be alright. She'd seen his faked nonchalance when he'd asked her, she knew it would have been worse for both of them to have turned him down.

She reached over and took his hand, gently squeezing it, feeling his cooler skin under hers,

"There is something. You've got me. You'll never be alone, as long as I'm here...yeah?"

The Doctor swallowed, and finally looked over to meet her gaze. It pierced right through him, and he could feel her searing onto his hearts.

"Really?"

Rose nodded, and he allowed himself to smile, even standing beneath the illusion of his lost world, he had some hope.

"Marveous. What do you say we go visit Poosh?"

Rose couldn't hold back a giggle,

"Where?"

"It's this lovely little planet, with 4 moons and one of them I actually returned when it had been stolen."

Rose cocked a brown eyebrow at him,

"Someone stole a moon? And you found it? C'mon..."

The Doctor grinned and led her out of the room, feeling none too relieved when the door clicked shut behind them, and console room appeared right in front of them.

"What about sleep? I still need some."

Rose fought a yawn, despite herself, and reluctantly let go of the Doctors hand to cover her mouth when it broke free.

"I'm getting to that aren't I? Poosh is famous for its tonics. They're bound to have something to perk you right up."

Rose shrugged, and smiled lazily at him,

"If you say so..."

The Doctor beamed as he set the course for Poosh into the coordinates,

"Course I do. Have I ever steered you wrong?"

Rose didn't bother mentioning how their first trip had landed over 50 years off the mark. There was no point arguing when the Doctor was trying to show off.

Besides, she kind of liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally i had a different plan for this ficlet, but amazingly it stayed g-rated hah

Ironically, the Doctor was the one who found himself on the end of a badly made tonic. While Rose’s chilled frost berry tonic had indeed boosted her immune and energy systems, something in his drink had reacted badly. Perhaps it had been his new kidneys.

On the walk back to the TARDIS, Rose was chipper, and eagerly pointed out different shapes in the clouds, unique to Poosh, but the Doctor was stumbling on the perfectly flat street and leaning heavily on her shoulder.

“What’s wrong Doctor?”

He lifted his head up to stare at her a long while, before replying.

“Rose, oh Rose. You’re here. Did you have to jump again? You know I don’t like it when you do that. Rip a hole right through space and time why don’t you?”

But he was smiling as he said it. She wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but she played along.

“Yep, I did…that. I’m here, walking you back to the ship. I think something was in your drink.”

He went back to mumbling, but once they’d made it inside the TARDIS, he collapsed to his knees, and she was right there beside him. After all, in this incarnation, he was starting to look his supposed age.

He’d once told her he was over a thousand years old, but at the time, she hadn’t been sure she believed him.

He looked up at her, wide eyed, and she felt her heart ache for him. She knew he was seeing something other than her right in front of him, and she couldn’t do much more than hold his hand until the delusions played out.

“Rose, Rose, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Her voice was soothing, but the painful memories and thoughts in the forefront of his mind would not listen to reason.

“I should never have left you behind on that beach. I wanted to tell you. I wanted to go back, but I was too much of a coward…then Donna was there, and I couldn’t.”

Rose nodded, but her reassuring smile looked a bit strained,

“Okay. We should get you to bed, you can sleep a little, and you’ll be good as new in the morning…er, whenever you wake up.”

Time really had surprisingly little meaning once inside the TARDIS, and Rose wasn’t sure what the Doctor’s sleep schedule normally was. Since she’d come aboard, he’d never once slept.

Maybe it was high time.

“C’mon love, up you get.”

The term slipped out by accident, and Rose was only trying to wheedle him into moving off the cold metal floor, but his arm slipped and grasped her waist, pulling her into his embrace as she tried to get them both to their feet. He ended up hugging her round the middle, with his face pressed to her stomach, the fabric of her jumper muffling the words he was saying.

“Oh Rose how can you ever forgive me?” Ended up sounding more like, “Ohrosowcanyouneverporkiveme?”

 

Rose froze in place, and stroked his grey hair gently, until he relaxed slightly, and loosened his hold on her, and she shifted him back up to a safe position to guide across the console room.

Once safely in his room, she managed to help him onto the bed, which to her looked a bit as if it had never been slept in, and she untucked the blanket, wrapping it over him, and he shifted closer to her, even though she stood right beside the mattress.

“Don’t leave me, please.”

He whispered, just barely so she could hear. If she’d been any further away, she might not have.

She wasn’t sure how good of an idea it was, but she honestly didn’t feel safe leaving him alone. He could roll right over and fall out of bed. He might break something. Considering the state he was in, she would have been irresponsible to say no. So she said okay.

She slipped atop the covers beside him, and let him hold her hand. Eventually his breathing slowed, and she could even feel his hearts beating slower. She hoped he wouldn’t remember a thing in the morning…er, whenever he awoke. She wasn’t sure how to explain how things had gone this direction, and she didn’t exactly know who he was seeing when he’d spoken to her. Although he’d called her Rose, the look in his eye had been so sad, so lost, and so different from how he looked at her usually.

***

Even before Rose fully returned to consciousness, her thoughts were going wild. She’d been having the time of her life, traveling with the Doctor. She’d never done anything as spontaneous as running away with a stranger and his time and space ship. The moment when she’d decided to do it, to say goodbye to Mickey, and indeed, the entire world, she knew it would never be the same.

She had no real family to return to, and Mickey had ultimately confessed what she knew. They’d been out of love for a long time, drawn together only for the sake of staving off each other’s loneliness. He’d been hurt by her choice, but so had she. The clean break had been the best thing for them both.

It hadn’t taken her long to realize how much she’d been holding back, how much potential she had. She’d faced down angry future queens guard, and fought back against a world gone mad. She’d watched stars rush by as the eerie songs of a star whale filled her ears.

Today she’d gone to a world that the Doctor had saved already, and seen so much beauty and wonder, she wasn’t sure if anything could top it. But of course, there was the TARDIS itself. The room that had become Gallifrey for her, or had been created for her still swam in her mind’s eye.

Such a stunning place, no wonder the Doctor felt so deeply the loss of his world. How could he not?

As much fun as she’d had, there was still something bugging her. Had the Doctor been traveling alone, since before he’d come to meet her? She’d not asked, but he’d never brought up former companions. Surely she wasn’t the only one.

He’d said his face wasn’t nearly as old as it looked, and he’d been after a fresh start. Was there someone on earth who’d retired, or finally turned down the adventure of a lifetime?

Rose shook herself. Thoughts like that were not good for anything. She would ask him, about past travelers, and see what he said.

She could only hope he would tell her. He’d told her so much, but she didn’t ever want to offend him, to cross some line she couldn’t see. Were there rules for Time Lords? If he was the last, did he have anyone to answer to?

Perhaps things like that should frighten her, but they didn’t. Mickey was the only person in the universe who knew where she was, well, sort of. But she didn’t mind. She never felt in danger. In fact, she felt safer with the Doctor than any of the guards she’d ever traveled with before her parents’ death. The instant he would take her hand, no matter what they were running to or from, she felt protected.

She shifted on the coverlet, and looked over at him. He looked so at peace while sleeping, she’d never seen him like it. Although his face was aged, and even his eyebrows were silver streaked, he looked a good decade younger.

When his eyes were shut, the many years of things she knew he’d seen were hidden. She found herself fighting the urge to reach out and stroke his face.

How far across the line would that be?

Utter nonsense no doubt. Still, as she watched, he muttered in his sleep, and frowned, pressing his eyebrows together momentarily, before relaxing again.

“Oh Doctor, whatever will I do with you?”

She whispered to herself, and she sighed, moving back so she could stare up at the ceiling. Above her, millions of stars could be seen, as if they were lying beneath the sky outside in a field somewhere. She made a mental note to ask if she could have the same sort of ceiling in her room when the Doctor woke up.

***


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the Ford thing was totally from my own brain, but if there is any WHo canon involving Henry Ford, i'd love to know about it.

Lined with creases, the Doctor’s newest eyes might have described as weary, but when they snapped open, returning him to consciousness, there was a fire behind the blue orbs that was the furthest thing from tired.

“Rose!”

Despite his dreamless sleep, he’d retained every single memory that had occurred when he’d fallen under the influence of his overly strong Pooshian beverage, and he knew he would have questions to answer.

He jerked upright, and then looked around frantically, but all came to a halt when he noticed Rose curled away from him, sound asleep.

He clapped his hand over his mouth, though no sound other than her name had been uttered. She’d not even stirred, and she looked so beautiful like that.

He wondered how long he’d slept, if she’d fallen asleep at his side.

With dexterity that had been lacking in his former incarnation, he snuck his way out of the room and slipped away to check on the console room.

A gentle humming assured him the TARDIS was merely coasting through the vortex, and no assistance was required, he was welcome to focus on his lovely companion.

The Doctor frowned slightly at that thought. It had not been his own. The TARDIS herself had spoken it, or suggested it, more like. Though she was not the Rose Tyler who’d ripped open the heart of the TARDIS and held all of time and space in her mind, the old girl was still fond of her.

The Doctor wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but in the meantime, he needed to set things straight.

“She is lovely yes, but look at me. As if I’d have any chance of any sort of…anything!”

Chastisement was the only thing he could liken the blinking of her lights to. The Doctor fought the urge to roll his eyes.

He knew Rose had somehow managed to fall for his ninth self, despite the outward age gap, but the TARDIS was suggesting something that was perfectly impossible. Things would never cross the line from platonic to any sort of romantic hand holding or longing.

Well. She may not have been _his_ Rose, but he would always love her, no matter what form she took.

His love for Rose Tyler would transcend all of time and space, and nothing would change that. He was about to argue further, when the light padding of footsteps could be heard, and he looked around the console to see the girl in question walking into the room.

Her hair was lightly mussed from sleep, and she looked rather like an angel who’d stumbled off her cloud.

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

“You sleep alright? I hope I didn’t wake you.” The Doctor shot a glance towards the ceiling and the lights flashed momentarily, as if to say, ‘Don’t look at me.’

Rose shook her head,

“Nah. What about you? No more of that stuff bothering you? You were muttering a bit while you slept…before.”

The Doctor gulped, and reached up to fuss with a tie that was not there. He needed to accessorize, lest he end up with a cold neck.

“Oh. Did I say anything terribly offensive?”

He tried to play it off as a joke, but he saw something in Rose’s eyes. She smiled, but it didn’t reach far.

“You said something about how could I ever forgive you? Not like you’ve done anything wrong Doctor.”

The Doctor blinked at her, and nodded,

“Of course of course. I was probably thinking of how heavy I was, and the burden of transporting me back to the TARDIS safely.”

Rose shook her head, a small giggle leaving her lips, and the Doctor almost relaxed at the sound,

“No, I don’t think so. We were already back on the TARDIS when you said it.”

The Doctor felt the blood drain from his face,

“Did I say anything else?”

Rose shuffled her feet, and didn’t quite meet his gaze,

“Something about jumping, holes in time and space, but I figured you thought maybe I was trying to fly the TARDIS. I dunno…”

The way her voice trailed off let him know all he needed to. He’d been stupid, silly, and said things he shouldn’t, confused her, and maybe even hurt her.

“I’m so sorry Rose. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

She smiled a halfway sort of smile, and shrugged,

“It’s okay. You said that before too. You’ve nothing to apologize for. I dunno how I thought I was the only person to ever travel with ya. I’m sure you were just reliving old memories or something.”

The Doctor knew it was foolish, but the heavy mood was killing him,

“You’re calling me old?”

Rose edged closer to him and tapped the console right next to where his hand rested,

“Might be. You do feel alright now don’t you? It’s not good to have a drunk pilot. I haven’t the first idea how to fly this ship.”

The Doctor smiled, and took the leap and jump mentally, before closing the distance and taking her hand in his, guiding it to the nearest lever,

“It’s really not that hard. I could teach you…”

Rose finally smiled at him, a real genuine article, and there was the tiniest glimpse of her tongue between her teeth, and the memories that it stirred almost decked him.

“Is this how you Time Lord’s flirt? I’ll teach you to fly my space and time ship…”

“Er…”

For the first time in two centuries, words utterly failed him.

It wasn’t _his_ Rose, but oh how well did she know him?

“I think I’ll let you stick to driving, after all, I can’t even drive an earth car, much less an otherworldly ship. Hazards of being an heiress.”

She winked at him, actually winked, and his free hand tightened its grip on the console.

“Rose Tyler…” He let the syllables fall over his tongue, and she raised her eyebrows at him,

“Yep. That’s me.”

He shook his head,

“You’re telling me you can’t drive an automobile? You’re lucky I haven’t known this. Now I know where we’re going next.”

Rose laughed nervously,

“Where’s that?”

“Detroit, Michigan, USA, Earth, around the year 1956. You’re going to drive a Ford, and then I’m going to teach you to drive the TARDIS.”

Rose beamed at him, and gripped his hand harder,

“Really?”

The familiar turn of phrase was tickling the back of his throat, and at seeing her excitement, it sprung forth,

“Oh yes!”

 

***

**Author's Note:**

> title is taken from a Imagine Dragons song lyric, "Rocks" a hidden track from the album Night Visions. Highly recommend as listening music while writing or not.


End file.
